3 Norwalk-owned parcels might be sold, back on tax rolls

The Land Use and Building Management Committee of the Norwalk Common Council will be weighing allowing two property owners to purchase small parcels of city land.

The Land Use and Building Management Committee of the Norwalk Common Council will be weighing allowing two property owners to purchase small parcels of city land.

Photo: Kelly Kultys / Hearst Connecticut Media /

Photo: Kelly Kultys / Hearst Connecticut Media /

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The Land Use and Building Management Committee of the Norwalk Common Council will be weighing allowing two property owners to purchase small parcels of city land.

The Land Use and Building Management Committee of the Norwalk Common Council will be weighing allowing two property owners to purchase small parcels of city land.

Photo: Kelly Kultys / Hearst Connecticut Media /

3 Norwalk-owned parcels might be sold, back on tax rolls

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NORWALK — There’s potential interest from neighboring owners in purchasing a few small city-owned land parcels, according to Building and Facilities Manager Alan Lo.

Two small properties along Bouton Road and one small parcel at the corner of Scribner and West Cedar Street were up for discussion by the Land Use and Building Management Committee of the Common Council on Wednesday.

The Bouton Road properties are a bit farther along in the process, as Lo said he reached out to all the city’s department heads for any comments on if the city should keep the properties. None sent him any objections, he said. The properties would go back on the tax rolls if purchased by private owners.

“It’s two little pieces of property on Bouton Street and there used to be to be two to three lots in between our properties and somebody bought those properties from the tax sale about two to three years,” Lo said.

The property owner told the city that he was looking to combine all the lots to make one bigger one so he “could do a little more to it,” Lo said.

The city had previously tried to get rid of the properties in the mid-1990s, Lo said, but there were no takers.

“I thought that there’s no reason for us to keep those two pieces of property,” he said.

The committee voted to hold a public hearing on the Bouton Road properties for its next meeting in June.

The Scribner property peaked the interest of Gino Matera, who owns the lot behind it, because it was looking to gain access to the street via the parcel of city-owned land.

“The reason why I’m looking for this is because I’m looking to put a mixed use development here,” Matera said. “Because the city reconfigured the roadway here, 40 years ago, somewhere around there, I have no way to get into my property.”

“Is it zoning compliant? We have a lot of issues with contractor yards around the city,” said Tom Livingston, council president and committee chair.

Matera said that’s currently “in discussion” with Steve Kleppin, the director of planning and zoning.

“I’ve owned the property since the early 2000s,” he said. “It’s been in my family since somewhere in the late 70s I want to say and it’s always been a contractor’s yard since we’ve owned it. Sometime in the, I don’t exactly remember when, late ’70s early ’80s, they changed the regulations to zoned use so you needed a special permit or you needed a permit to have a contractor’s yard and it was never brought to our attention.”

Lo said that he would send the request to purchase the property out to all the department heads to gather their feedback to bring in front of the board, especially any comments from zoning.

“We need more information,” Livingston said.

Lo said he would gather the comments and bring them before the committee at its next meeting. At that point, the committee could vote to send it to a public hearing.